Rafael Leo has come out and said that an obsession with stats is ruining the entertainment and aesthetics that make football worth watching. I've got to say that I agree. Beyond the media hyping up more and more stats to encourage gambling, players are being judged mainly on how their numbers stack up. It's leading to a lot of boring football too. I went to a League 1 match at the weekend and watched a team playing that terribly boring possession based football where the ball is passed around the back for 5 minutes at a time. I've never been so bored watching a match in my life. Is this endemic now because of a focus on robotic players that play a system stat8staically well? It does feel like expression and personality are becoming rare commodities and a dying breed.
Well that's the whole point of making it a conversation. Wouldn't be much point attempting to discuss something objective.
It seems I'm as bad at simplifying fractions as I am with spelling names He plays for AC Milan. Rafael Leao.
imo this is all about fashion. it's currently the fashion of the day to "press" or pass it about to draw sides on. back in the 90s a 352 type formation became fashionable for a while then vanished having 2 forwards fell out of fashion and sides played 4231 or 451 or 433 or whatever. who knows. maybe ange ball will take hold.
yeah I agree as well. It’s the Americanisation of football unfortunately. The only stat that I care about (along with most other fans I assume) is goals scored/the final score
I went to a match at the weekend and watched a team playing that terribly boring possession based football where the ball is passed around the back for 5 minutes at a time. I've never been so bored watching a match in my life. You just described Chelsea’s and Pochettino’s tactic…… bore the opponent into submission
17 Nunez (10 goals + 7 assists, 1572 mins, goal/assist every 92 mins) In light of a lot of mockery of Nunez I decided to look at the goalscoring and assisting stats for 23/24 season so far, knowing he is doing quite well but how well..... I looked at all players with 8+ goals or 8+ assists, quite an interesting return Most Premier League goals + Assists (23/24) 26 Watkins (16 goals + 10 assists, 2478 mins, goal/assist every 95 mins) 24 Salah (15 goals + 9 assists, 1818 mins, goal/assist every 76 mins) 23 Haaland (18 goals + 5 assists, 1924 mins, goal/assist every 84 mins) 22 Son (14 goals + 8 assists, 1995 mins, goal/assist every 91 mins) 21 Saka (13 goals + 8 assists, 2271 mins, goal/assist every 108 mins) 19 Palmer (11 goals + 8 assists, 1753 mins, goal/assist every 92 mins) 18 Foden (11 goals + 7 assists, 2312 mins, goal/assist every 128 mins) 18 Solanke (15 goals + 3 assists, 2499 mins, goal/assist every 139 mins) 17 Nunez (10 goals + 7 assists, 1572 mins, goal/assist every 92 mins) 17 Bowen (14 goals + 3 assists, 2426 mins, goal/assist every 143 mins) 'Exclusive' club of Watkins, Salah, Son, Saka, Palmer, Bailey and Alvarez as only players to score 8 goals and assist 8 times Another 'Exclusive' club, of those who scored 8 goals or asssisted 8 times only seven scored or assisted less than every 100 minutes, Watkins, Salah, Haaland, Son, Palmer and Nunez as above, plus Bailey and Jota (both 88) I've long maintained Gakpo and Diaz are unlikely to score 20+ goals a season, not necessarily to suggest league or overall, simply not likely to be knocking away as many as Jota, Salah and Nunez, so here are the full five's stats to show any benefit or otherwise Nunez may get from more playing time LFC Premier League goals + Assists (23/24) 24 Salah (15 goals + 9 assists, 20 starts, 1818 mins, goal/assist every 76 mins) 17 Nunez (10 goals + 7 assists, 17 starts, 1572 mins, goal/assist every 92 mins) 12 Jota (9 goals + 3 assists, 13 starts, 1052 mins, goal/assist every 88 mins) 9 Diaz (6 goals + 3 assists, 22 starts, 1846 mins, goal/assist every 205 mins) 8 Gakpo (5 goals + 3 assists, 12 starts, 1159 mins, goal/assist every 145 mins) No other way of wording my feelings about Diaz, not enough end product and well beyond tender age being an excuse (27 so slightly younger than Jota by days, but older than Nunez and Gakpo). Might dazzle most with his play but really doesn't produce enough and clearly gets enough game time, most minutes and starts of any of the five yet fewest goals, joint fewest assists and thus worst return per minutes played Mentions for Adebayo (9 goals), Morris (8 goals + 4 assists), Cunha (9 goals + 6 assists), Grob (4 goals + 10 assists) plus a bundle of others that I won't do all the figures but Hwang, Bailey, Alvarez, Gordon, Neto, Luiz, Richarlison, Isak, Jackson, Havertz, Joao Pedro, Tripper and Wood also made the 8+ list, and Jota although is mentioned above not in the overall list only LFC shorter list
Is there really mockery of Nunez anymore? There was first half of last year, but since then the only people I’ve really seen mentioning it are Liverpool fans…
My Premier League Team Of The Season So Far - Leno Van Dijk Saliba Romero Salah Bowen Rodri Son Saka Watkins Haaland
So that team lineup would be "……………..Leno …….Romero…. Saliba……..VanDijk ………………Rodri Salah. Bowen.Haaland Watkins Son Saka Rodri is going to very busy….6 attackers
Goals for and against and maybe assists (and even assists can be picked to bits), are the only stats that interest me. Everything else, including the mindnumbingly boring xG garbage can do one. yeah was thinking the same. Any "seasons team" that doesn't include Alexis Mac Allister goes straight into the bin btw
